Flowers, Martha

Martha Flowers (1926-2022) was a singer, performer, and the first Black faculty member in the Department of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was known for her role as Bess in the production of Porgy and Bess which toured internationally in the 1950s and whose cast also included Maya Angelou, with whom Flowers developed a lifelong friendship. Flowers performed around the world prior to joining the faculty at UNC in 1973 and settling in Chapel Hll, NC, and she remained in that area for the rest of her life.